This Date in Baseball – Fred McGriff sets MLB record by homering in his 34th major league ballpark

May 7

1917 — Babe Ruth of the Red Sox allowed two hits as he outdueled Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators 1-0. Ruth knocked in the winning run with a sacrifice fly.

1922 — Jesse Barnes of the New York Giants pitched the only no-hitter of the year, beating the Philadelphia Phillies 6-0.

1925 — Pittsburgh shortstop Glenn Wright made an unassisted triple play in the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals when he caught Jim Bottomley’s line drive, stepped on second to double Jimmy Cooney, and tagged Rogers Hornsby coming from first. The Cardinals, trailing 9-4, scored six runs in the eighth inning to win 10-9 at Forbes Field.

1957 — Cleveland pitcher Herb Score was hit on the right eye by a line drive off the bat of Gil McDougald in the first inning. The ball broke Score’s nose and damaged his eye; he missed the rest of the season.

1959 — A crowd of 93,103 came to the Los Angeles Coliseum on “Roy Campanella Night” to show its affection for the paralyzed Dodger catcher. The Dodgers were beaten by the New York Yankees 6-2 in an exhibition game that followed the ceremonies.

1960 — Norm Sherry, a replacement catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, hit a home run in the 11th inning to give his brother, relief pitcher Larry Sherry, a 3-2 triumph over the Philadelphia Phillies in Los Angeles.

1970 — Wes Parker of Los Angeles Dodgers hit for the cycle in a 7-4, 10-inning win over the New York Mets.

1973 — The Pittsburgh Pirates became the first team to score their five runs on five solo homers in a 5-4 win over Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium. Willie Stargell, Dave Cash, Richie Hebner, Manny Sanguillen and Al Oliver homered.

1986 — Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Garry Maddox announces his retirement at the age of 36. Properly nicknamed “Secretary of Defense”, the slick-fielding Maddox won eight Gold Gloves.

1997 — The Montreal Expos scored 13 runs to set an NL record for runs in a sixth inning during their 19-3 win over the San Francisco Giants.

1999 — Tampa Bay’s first baseman Fred McGriff sets a major league record by homering in his 34th major league ballpark.

1999 — Carlos Lee becomes the first player in Chicago White Sox history to hit a home run in his first major league at-bat in the Sox’s 7-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

2005 — Julio Franco of the Atlanta Braves goes 3 for 4, including his first home run of the season, in a 4-1 victory over the Houston Astros. Franco, who turns 47 on August 23rd, becomes the second-oldest player in major league history to homer at 46 years, 257 days. Jack Quinn, a pitcher who accomplished the feat when he was 100 days older, hit a home run for the Philadelphia Athletics on June 27, 1930; Franco will eventually pass him as well.

2008 — Carlos Gomez became the first Minnesota player to hit for the cycle in 22 years in a 13-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

2009 — New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera gave up home runs to consecutive batters for the first time in his major league career, with Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria connecting in the ninth inning of Tampa Bay’s 8-6 victory. Rivera had not given up back-to-back homers in 862 games coming in.

2009 — The Boston Red Sox tied a modern major-league record with 12 runs in an inning before making an out in a 13-3 win over Cleveland. The Red Sox tied the mark set by the Brooklyn Dodgers on May 24, 1953.

2009 — The Dodgers’ star outfielder, Manny Ramirez, is suspended for 50 games for testing positive for a banned substance. He is the most prominent player yet caught under Major League Baseball’s PED policy implemented in 2005.

2010 — Starlin Castro hit a three-run homer in his first major league at-bat and drove in a record six runs during the Chicago Cubs’ 14-7 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. Castro added a bases-loaded triple, sliding headfirst into the record books with six RBIs, the most ever in a modern day debut — one more than the previous mark shared by four players.

2011 — Justin Verlander threw his second career no-hitter, leading the Detroit Tigers to a 9-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. The only runner Verlander allowed came with one out in the eighth inning when J.P. Arencibia walked on a full count.

2011 — Andre Ethier’s 30-game hitting streak ends in a 4-2 Dodgers loss to the Mets. Ethier, who goes 0 for 4, ends up one game short of the franchise record of 31 games held by Willie Davis since 1969.

2016 — Aaron Hill hit a grand slam in Milwaukee’s seven-run 10th inning for his third homer of the game, and the Brewers beat Cincinnati 13-7.

2016 — New York’s Bartolo Colon became the oldest player to hit his first major league home run, connecting less than three weeks before his 43rd birthday, to help the Mets to a 6-3 victory over the Padres.

2018 — George Springer ties an Astros team record by going 6 for 6 in a 16-2 win over the Athletics. He has a double, homer and single by the end of the 4th inning, but fails in his next three at-bats to get the triple that would have completed the cycle as he hits a single each time.

2019 — Mike Fiers pitches his second career no-hitter as the Athletics defeat the Reds, 2-0.

2022 — Less than two weeks after getting his 3,000th hit, Miguel Cabrera reaches another milestone with his 600th career double, only the 18th player to that total. Only two others – Hank Aaron and Albert Pujols – have compiled his combination of 3,000 hits, 600 doubles and 500 home runs.

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